Display container



Oct. 12, 1943. w. R. TUTTLE ETAL 2,331,361

DISPLAY CONTAINER Filed July 17, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet -l INVENTORS A5.71/7725 4 7 TO/QA/ZY W. R. TUTTLE ET AL Oct. 12, 1943.

DISPLAY CONTAINER Filed July 1'7, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 25 I i #4 I ZWILL/14M E.

T0 7 n E g )4 TTO/PNEY The control member support plate.

3| has the upper surface 32 thereof provided with a depression or groove33 best seen in Figure li), The upper surface 32 is secured preferablyby 7 means of a suitable adhesive 'to theunder sur-- face 34 of the topwall panel 21. A preformed control member 35 may be placed within thegroove 33 prior to the adhering operation just described or the controlmember maybe inserted in the groove 33 after the parts have beenfastened together and subsequently bent to shape; The top wall panel 21is bent upwardly, as seen in Figure 14, along the line 36 and the sidewall portions 29 and 30 are bent upwardly along the lines 31 and 38respectively. The front wall portion 25 is bent upwardly along the line39 until the edges 40 and 4| meet the edges 42 and 43 respectively. Therear wall portion 28 is bent upwardly along the. line 44 until the edges45 and 46 meet the edges 41 and 48 respectively. Thethenmeetingedges40-42, 41-43, 45-41, and 46-48 are preferably cementedtogether in any suitable manner.

Next the rearreenforcing and spacing member 50 is formed by foldingdownwardly (as viewed in Figure 15) along the lines 5|, 52, 53 and 54and theportio'ns. 55and 56 arecemented together. The rear reenforcingand spacing member will then form an. open endedhollow object having theappearance in section as seen in lower right hand portions of Figure 2and Figure 3. The side r'eenforcing' and spacing members 51 and 58are.substantiallyidentical so that adescription of one'willsumce forboth. The blank fromwhich the member 51 .is formed is folded downwardly,as viewed in Figure 12, along the lines 59, 6|], GI and Hand theportions 63 and 64 are secured together by means of an adhesive so. thatthe members Hand 58 will appear in section, as seen in Figure 8.

The lid or cover 22 is preferably composed of a single sheet ofmaterialhaving a straight lower edge 60 and a curved top edge GI andside edges 62" and 63. The central portion of the body of the cover 22is provided with an irregularly shaped orifice 64 formed by the innerlongitudinal edges 65 and 66;.and the inner transverse edges 61 and 68.The edge 61 is preferably substantially'rectilinear, while the edge 68is preferably provided with indentationsifl and 10. The

general area occupied by the orifice 64 is governed by'the'size of thecell 23. 'I'hecover 22' is hingedly connected to the top surface of thetop wall portion21 so that the cover 22 is adapted for pivotal movementabove an axis located substantially along the rear edge of the top wallportion 21. The hinge 1| is preferably composed of a thin sheet of toughflexible paper or of muslin.

The display cell 23 is preferably formed from three pieces of relativelystiff transparentsheet material such as sheet cellulose acetate andincludes a body portion 13, a circular end 14, and an elliptical end 15.The body portion 13 is formed from a rectangular piece of sheettransparent material and the two opposite ends-of which are cemented bya lap-joint with any suit-'- able transparent adhesive to form acylinder of uniform diameter. The'circular end 14 is provided with acentral convex portion 16, best seen in Figures 5 and 7, the convexportion extending outwardly of the cell 23. The central portion of theconvex portion is depressed or indented to form a rectilinear groove-11.Theconfiguration of the circular end 14 is such that the outermostportion of the convex portion 16 extends outwardly of the circular edge18 of the body portion 13, The elliptical end 15 is preferablysubstantially planar at the center portion thereof.

In assemblying the display cell, the body portion 13may be formed bywrapping a piece of transparent sheet material about an object to bedisplayed such as an eye-lash curler generally indicated by numeral 80,or the cylinder may be preformed with the circular end 14 integratedtherewith. After the curler 8D is in place within the cylinder theremaining open-ends of the cell 23 are closedby cementing the remainingendsin place along the edges 18 and/or 19.

v The construction of the display cell 23 is therefore such that theentire cell may be detachably engaged within the orifice 54 by a simplesnapping operation. The convexportion 16 being made of'relativelynthinresilient material, will flex sufficiently so that thecell may be simply installed in the following-manner: The elliptical endHis first inserted within the orifice 64 with the outer surface-of saidend in contact with the edge 68, the .rim oredge extending into'theindentations 69 and 10. Theother end of the cell, that is, the circularend 14 is then swung radially about the edge 58 into th orifice 64, theconvex portion16 being depressed or flexed by engagement with the edge51. until aid edge snaps into the groove 11.- The removal of the displaycell requires the foregoing manipulations in exactly reverse order. s 1v In the alternate construction of the cover shown in Figure 16,needless repetition is avoided by the useof the same reference numeralswith an added ance with this construction, the circularend 14' of thecell 23 is planar and the distance between the projecting portion 93 and94'of the edge 68" on one, hand, and theprojections BI and 82' issubstantially equal tothe distance between the elliptical end 15'. Ininsertingthe display cell in thecover 22 either en may be inserted firstand the remaining end is swung into place by snapping the then free edgeof the cell, that is to say, the edge 18, if the end 15' had been firstinserted, or the edge 12', if the end 14 had been first inserted. Therelatively small size and resilience of the'parts permits a snappingaction to take place as the cell is inserted or removed.

Assuming thecontaine'r 20 to'be assembled as shown in Figure 3, it willbe seen that the display cell 23 completelyfillsi the orifice '64 sothat the cover 22 is in fact'a complete cover and protection againstdust and contamination of the contents of the display container 29. Inthis view the control member 35 is in the down position thereof so thatthe cover 22 remains closed by the action of gravity. The displaycontainer 20 may then have within it a plurality of auxiliarycontainers; 82, 83, and 84, which may contain additional objects similarto the one on view within the display cell 23, asfor example, additionaleyelash curlers such as 80.. i

The control member 35 includes a central axle portion 85, a stop portion86 and a cover engaging portion 81. The stop portion '86, as viewed inFigure 4, is disposed in a horizontal plane and at right angles to theaxle portion 85. The cover engaging portion 81 is disposed in a verticalplan and at right angles to the axle portion 85. The position of thecontrol member in Figure 3 is illustrated by the dot-dash lines in'Figure 4. In order to elevate the cover to its upper or open positionfor either display or access purposes, it is necessary only to raise thefree edge 88 of the cover 22 whereupon the same will pivot about thehinge H and after the cover is in the position shown in Figure 2 thecover engaging portion 81 is grasped and rotated to a positioncorrespond ing to the full lines in Figure 4 in a direction as indicatedby the arrows thereon. The cover engaging portion 8'! will then serve asa support for the cover 22, as seen in Figure 2. The stop portion 86 bycoacting with the end surface of the top wall portion 21 serves to limitthe rotational movement of the control member to a swing of 180 degrees.

Since the display container 2! is especially designed to foster both thedisplay and convenient storage of products for ready sale ofmerchandise, it is preferable that the same be very attractive inappearance, and to this end the entire container is covered with anydesirable covering material 90 of a decorative nature, for example, aprinted or lithographed paper, thus providing several display surfaceswhich may carry either decorative or a sales message. The cover 90 alsoserves to reenforce the various joints formed in the construction of thecontainer as previously described. Thus the cover 22 may have a displaymaterial 9| thereon and on the opposite surface, another displaymaterial 92. Thus when the cover is in the upper or open positionthereof, the display material 9| is most clearly on view, and this maycontain reading matter intended for the customer. The reading matter onthe display material 92 may primarily be directed to the sales personwhich it faces so that both the display material 92 and also displaymaterial 93 as well as display materials 94, 95and 95 may face the salesperson as he removes the auxiliary containers 8284 from the container20. The display material 96 ofi'ers a principal display surface directedto the customer, whil additional display material may be placed upon theouter surface of the side wall portions 28 and 29. Certain directions orconfidential information may be placed upon the display material 98.

Directions for utilizing the movable brace or control member 35 may beplaced upon the surface 99. The decorative material I superposing thetop wall portion 2'! also provides an additional surface upon whichadvertising or other subject matter may be placed. It may be noted atthis point that when the cover 22 is in the closed or lowered positionthereof, the display container may be utilized in such a manner that thedisplay cell 23 will face the customer in which event the display celland cover act of course to conceal and protect the auxiliary containersin storage as Well as to conceal from the customers view the subjectmatter particularly directed to the attention of the sales person.

We claim:

1. A display container comprising: a box body in the form of a hollowvessel with an opening,

said box body having a top panel adjoining said opening; a cover memberhingedly connected to said top panel and adapted in a closed positionthereof to act as a closure for said opening and in an open positionthereof to act as a display; and means to support the cover member inthe open position thereof comprising a rotatable control memberjournalled on the top panel, said control member including a centralaxle portion and a cover engaging portion extendingradially off one endof said axle portion.

2. A display container comprising: a box body in the form of a hollowvessel with an opening, said box body having a top panel adjoining saidopening; a cover member arcuately movable with relation to said toppanel and adapted in closed position thereof to act as a closure forsaid opening and in an open position thereof to act as a display; and arotatable control member including an axle portion, a cover engagingportion extending radially off one end of the axle portion, and a stopportion radially extending off the other end of the axle portion, saidstop portion being rotated through substantially degrees with relationto said cover engaging portion, said axle portion being journalled onsaid top panel.

3. A display container comprising: a box body in the form of a-hollowvessel withan opening, said box body having a top panel adjoining saidopening; a cover member hingedly connected to said body, adapted in theclosed position thereof to act as a closure for the said box body and inthe open position thereof to act as a display, said cover member beingprovided with an orifice; and

' a cell adapted to contain an article, said cell having an end with acentral convex outwardly extending portion provided'with a groove, saidcell being detachably engaged within said orifice by the groove engagingan edge of said orifice.

4. A display container comprising: a box body in the form of a hollowvessel with an opening therein, said box body having a top paneladjoining said opening; a cover member hingedly connected to said toppanel and adapted in a closed position thereof to act as a closure forsaid body and in the open position thereof to act as a display, saidcover member being provided with an orifice; and a transparent celladapted to contain an article, at least one end of said cell having aconvex portion provided with a groove adapted to detachably engage anedge of said orifice;'the transparent cell showing an article containedtherein, and when the cover member is in the closed position thereofshowing the contents of the box body.

5. A display container comprising: a box body in the form of a hollowvessel having an opening and adapted to contain articles of merchandise;a cover member pivotally connected to said body, adapted in the closedposition thereof to act as a closure for said box body and in the openposition thereof to act as a display, said cover member being providedwith an orifice and a trans-. parent cell adapted to contain an article,said cell being detachably engaged within said orifice and displayingits enclosed article when viewed from either side of said cover member,said cell showing the contents of the container when the cover member isin the closed position thereof.

WILLIAM R. TU'II'LE. CHARLES W. STICKEL.

